Can you explain what supper is?

[beebee25]

I don't really understand what supper means.. is this a full meal or a snacky type thing? My boss puts she is meeting people for supper in her calendar. Is this dinner or am I missing the point?

i think it’s a word that has different meanings regionally and also class/historically .

For me (rural sussex) supper is the evening meal we have with family or friends in our kitchen. Think shepherds pie/Toad in the hole, casual relaxed evening meal. No ceremony just very casual.
Dinner signifies something that has taken a lot more effort. Formal invites made. No young kids around. If there is an option then Dinner is in the dining room with best china. Supper is in the kitchen with everyday crockery.

For my very posh granny supper was a very casual affair quite late at night after returning from an event like the theatre. So 10/11 pm . Consisting of something like soup and bread. Cheese and biscuits or sometimes just toast and marmite and cocoa or a cup of tea.

100% same
Lunch has been used for many a year instead of dinner.
I still say dinner .

Breakfast, lunch, dinner / tea, supper. Scotland, lower middle.

I was really surprised now that we didn’t say dinner for the midday meal: my dad was a farmer and my mum came from a mining background, so they both grew up eating dinner at midday. But my mum worked full time as a teacher and my dad had to fend for himself, so a sandwich / cup of tea was easier to put together for himself I guess. There was no way my mum was going to cook a meal and leave it for him as well as working. So they always called it lunch and we never had a sit down meal. Plus my mum was a little bit of a snob and I think lunch sounded better to her.

The evening meal was dinner - but was interchangeably referred to as ‘your tea’ as in ‘your tea’s out!’ But then we also shouted ‘dinner’s ready’.

Supper was tea and toast before bed.

Back to schooldays:
School dinners were dinners, not lunch.
If you went to a friend's house after school, you were often invited for tea. This was a cup of tea and sandwiches, occasionally biscuits.
Then you often went home and ate tea at your own house - which was a cooked meal.
Visiting a friend's house now, for kids, often involves burgers, pizzas, spaghetti bolognaise etc.

What is the after school snack called nowadays? I always provide milk, soft drinks, and unhealthy food. Biscuits, cakes, pain au chocolate.